An East Texas business with an international reach

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - It's what thousands of Americans turn to for their daily jolt, and it comes from a company near you, thanks to a partnership between McDonalds and Distant Land Coffee.

"The Tyler team has been an integral partner in probably launching one of the biggest business initiatives at McDonald's in close to 30 years," said Danielle Paris, a product innovation manager for McDonald's.

Paris says Distant Lands supplies one-third of the coffee beans for McCafe espresso drinks, and they've been doing it since 2004.

"But, we are finally here today and absolutely delighted about the results we are seeing right now," said Paris.

These finished results come after a long process. The beans unloaded are from 12 coffee farms around the world.

"Here in Tyler we transfer them from those hard, almost stones," said Russell Kramer, a Distant Lands executive. "Roast them which brings out their flavors and gets them to a point to ship to the McDonald's."

Kramer says Tyler is an ideal place to do business.

"We are sitting in the middle of the country and can ship from the center out to the sides," he said.

Kramer says the partnership is not only good for the company, but it is also good for East Texas.

"10 years ago we maybe had 20 employees," said Kramer. "Now, we have 80. We bring a lot of visitors to Tyler."

"Here we have a local business that has international connections - global reach," said Paris.

And, even with this global reach, Distant Lands brings coffee close to home. Distant Lands also provides coffee for Panera Bread, Safeway, and Brookshire's. And, the company says there are no plans to stop expanding anytime soon.

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